I have my first trip scheduled for Sept to Zim for buff, zebra, kudu, maybe hippo, and other plains game. Taking a Rifles, Inc custom in 416 Remington and my old Ruger 77 in 7mm Rem Mag. The 416 shoots within an inch no matter what I feed it, and the 7mm with my 175 gr Noslers will do better, so I have no excuse. I am torn between taking factory ammo for the 416 vs handloading. I am going with Charlton McCallum and they like the Swifts and Trophy Bonded. I have an assortment of bullets to load (Swift, Northfork, Barnes, Hornady) but am wondering whether to bother. The 416 is surprisingly fun to shoot (at least off sticks-haven't tried it off a bench yet-do have a sissy bag). Opinions, please.

That's a very personal choice. For me, handloads. My preparation involves months of loading and shooting. Carrying ammo that I have personally developed for my rifle and that I have confidence in gives me satisfaction, and, yes, pride. Putting a round into an animal that I have "birthed" adds to my experience. (Birthed the round, not the animal.) I actually am more confident of my ammunition if I have loaded it myself.
That being said, if your 416 performs well with factory ammunition,you can't kill them any deader. Factory ammo is pretty damn good these days.
Who will be your PH? what camp will you go to?
Awaiting your hunting report.

I agree with Marty. I always take my own loads. Mainly because part of the fun is working up "my" load for my rifle, but I also have absolute confidence in ammo I know I loaded myself (though I must admit that before I started handloading I fired thousands of rounds of factory ammo without a single problem ever). Ultimately I doubt very seriously that it makes any difference whether you shoot handloads or factory ammo. I just get more enjoyment out of making and shooting my own. Just don't load to the max since you may be dealing with higher temperatures in Africa than at home which could result in higher pressures.

I would simply leave the 7mm at home and handload for the .416. I would use NorthFork soft points and solids. I took elephant, lion, hippo, buffalo, and zebra last month in Dande North with Gavin Rorke with North forks in .375.

The problem with the .416 is you'll be out after a kudu and cut a good fresh buffalo track.

Factory ammo has never polluted my barrels.

I prefer a home cooked meal. The same with hunting hand loaded and you know exactly what is in there.


Mike

I am not a reloader. Been hunting for 50 years. Have taken 21 species of NA and 8 species of African, all with factory ammo. Will be in Zim in August and Zambia in October with Hornady or Federal ammo. Some folks really enjoy reloading, I just don't have the time and have total confidence in factory ammo. Just me.

What do you normally hunt with?

Why is it different because you are hunting in Africa?

What are you confident in? I have not purchased commercial ammunition in over 50 years and would not have it any other way.

I used 350 gr. Swift A Frames in my 416 Rem Mag on buff with excellent results when the situation presented itself.

I reload for all my rifles and have worked up very accurate reloads for them, but if you find a good factory load that shoots well in your rifle thats totally fine as well. Swift A Frames in HL or FL is the way to go. Lots of guys come unstuck using the wrong bullet type or not the ideal weight for your caliber and the game that they are hunting.

Most important of all is bullet placement .

Have a good safari.

Arjun Reddy
www.huntersnetworks.com

For African BG hunting I doubt it really matters providing they use good bullets like Swift A Frames or North Forks.

I use my own loads, I know what is in them, where they hit and I get an extra bonus in firing the gun to check out several prospective loads.

I've heard it said that true HANDloaders actually enjoy the experience of loading and love to extol the benefits. Good for you. REloaders (like me) are just cheapskates who perform the drudgery so that they can afford to shoot and practice more, but fall back on premium factory ammo for important shooting (i.e. hunting).

I can't really see anything wrong with either viewpoint. "Pollute" a barrel with factory ammo? I always thought that the old-timer who originally said that sounded pretty silly. Repeating it today doesn't sound any better.

Do you also refine your own gasoline down in the basement, or drink only homemade wine and beer?

John

I have never shot a big game animal with a factory round not even a deer. The factory ammo available today is much better than 30-40 years ago. I really enjoy working up a load with a specific rifle with a specific bullet to fit the hunt I'm going on. I recently got a DVD from my PH in Zimbabwe that had one of his clients shooting some 470NE loads I left with him. The client shot 3 tuskless, one bull elephant and two buffalo with those loads.

One of the reasons for reloading in the past was because it was difficult to find factory ammo loaded with good quality bullets particulalrly for 375 and up calibers. Also velocities of factory ammo could be very disappointing when chronographed. Both of those problems have been virtually eliminated. My favorite factory load for the 30-06 is the Federal load with 180 TSX. It chronos 2740 FPS, shoots around an inch and the 180 TSX is adeguate for any game upto cape buffalo. It would be hard to top that performance with any handload.

For me in today's world I think you can get all the preformance necessary for any job from factory ammo but these really good quality loads are to me incredibly expensive. If you have reloading equipment or access to it you literally can save thousands of dollars by reloading. drj mentioned the 416 Rigby. Isn't Federal Factory ammo about $200 a box? That's $10 a round. Once you buy the basics you can reload the heavy hitters with the best of components for what $2 a round?

So as far as Africa is concerned I think factory ammo will do the trick nicely but adequate practice is going to be very expensive. Reloads for Africa will save you a boat load of cash and you'll have the satisfaction of shooting your game with loads you've crafted yourself. That's really why I reload anyway.

Mark

I rolled my own 35 Whelen for a PG hunt in Botswana. Wanted to use North Forks. Ran every load through the rifle several times to check for feeding, etc. Great deal of satisfaction at cleanly taking game with the loads.

As a young hunter I never realized the value of loading one's on ammo but thanks to a very talented and knowledgeable gunsmith I learned.

Loading my own taught me I could make an average shooter of shots on target to a very good shooting rifle. Not to mention the better results shooting big game animals as well. 90% of what I shoot are hand loads for all my weapons.

I handload because I want the best out of my weapons. I also shoot a lot more due to load work up. There used to be a big advantage handloading--not anymore. Current quality factory rounds are great. But I can still get a tad more out of a personally loaded cartridge.It also gives me lots to ponder during the often long waits before the next hunt! I's kind of like underwear-boxers or briefs! There is also a certain amount of satisfaction when you walk up to your first buff that you've killed with one of your own handloads.Either way, you're in for one of life's greatest adventures. Have fun!!

quote:

There is also a certain amount of satisfaction when you walk up to your first buff that you've killed with one of your own handloads.

Or your first deer, or your first elk, or your first bighorn ram, our your first 100 straight in a registered Trap or Skeet competition.

I too have been big game hunting for almost 50 years and although I shot my first deer and first elk with factory ammo from borrowed rifles, just about every big game animal that I have shot since was killed by one of my handloads.

I also shot registered Trap and Skeet for over 20 years, all with handloaded shells. In doing that, I handloaded well over 200,000 shotgun shells.

And like bwana dogo wrote, I did get a special satisfaction of killing my first Cape Buffalo with one of my handloaded shells just like there still was last year when I killed my 34th elk with one of my handloaded shells or when I shot my 10th 100 straight in Trap or Skeet with my handloaded shells.

First off there is a large difference between HANDloads, Reloads and factory loads! All three can serve the same purpose in many cases and both the handloads and reloads can be far superior to most factory ammo even in a single barreled rifle, but far more so for a double rifle. The same load that shoots and regulates perfectly in one double rifle may shoot all over the country side from another of the same brand and chambering. I want to know where my double is going to hit every time when I pull the triggers.

I don’t buy the “I don’t have the time to hand-load!” crap! Nobody is that busy. If you have time to go on a 14 to 21 day safari and shop for all the safari cloths, you have time to carfully load your own ammo.

The only time consuming thing is finding the load that shoots the best in your single barreled rifle, and the load that regulates, and shoots the best in your double rifle. Once that is done, 100 rounds of very carefully loaded hunting ammo can be loaded in one weekend. 100 rounds of quality big bore ammo loaded in new matched brass, and using one lot of powder is as good as it gets, and put away for hunting only in a bore rifle will last you 5 years of hunting. If you want to practice in the off-season use your gang loaded factory ammo, and re-load that brass with cheap bullets for pig hunting in the off season for practice.

Most factory ammo is loaded from a set of gang presses, that metes the powder charge out of gang of powder measures using bulk brass and in most cases the powder used is from several different lot numbers over a run of any one caliber cartridge. Top this off with the fact that the cases are from a batch of hundreds and certainly not matched for weight. What has the weight of the brass have to do with anything?

The answer to that question is if all brass weighs differently with the outside shape of the case being identical, if a case weighs more than another one then the inside powder capacity will be smaller in the heavy one. This causes higher chamber pressure in the heavy brass than in the light brass, translates to a different POI on the target. In a double rifle this means one cartridge may not regulate properly when the chips are down, and bet has been made with your life in the pot! This even includes some of the so-called custom ammo that requires floating a loan on the farm to buy enough to practice with before a safari, and still have enough to hunt with once you get into the field with the bite backs.

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